Knowledge is Power for Ingall

Supercheap Auto Racing’s Russell Ingall says local knowledge will provide a powerful advantage for this weekend’s Coates Hire Ipswich 360 at Queensland Raceway.

The affectionately-named “Paperclip” was the Queensland resident’s test track for nine seasons and the veteran has contested every race there since 1999, achieving consistent results including three race wins and 12 podiums.

“I know the place well, and even though it’s a simple circuit with only six corners, it’s quite bumpy and there’s a trick to setting fast laps,” Ingall said.

Ingall also set the current lap record in last year’s Sunday race en route to a sixth place finish.

“I wasn’t trying to set the record, but circumstances played to our advantage,” Ingall said.

“We had a very good car last year and during the race I was pushing hard on soft tyres to hunt down some people.”

After his stunning drive from 26th on the grid to fifth in his record-breaking V8 start at Townsville, Ingall knows he and the car are capable of delivering more strong results this weekend.

“The SCAR team made some encouraging improvements to the car just before Townsville and it was strong in race trim,” Ingall said.

“You can never become too confident in this game, but our Townsville form showed we have a competitive package and I have a good strike rate at QR, so hopefully we can score a podium.”

The race format returns to shorter sprints this weekend; Saturday will feature a 60/60 Super Sprint while two 100km races will be held on Sunday. Only the soft compound Dunlop tyres are in use for the event, but pit stops are not predicted due to QR’s low tyre degradation.

Tickets are available through Ticketek for the Coates Hire Ipswich 360, which runs from July 26-28 at Queensland Raceway.